Astrology has absolutely been instrumental in helping me advance in my career and broadening my professional network. In most of my past jobs I was out of the “spiritual closet” and my coworkers knew that I was a “new ager” and professional astrologer. But not everyone I work/worked with knows this. What many people don’t know is that I keep a mental tally of birthdays/zodiac signs in the work place not only as a means of friendly conversation but to also strategically form bonds with coworkers by speaking to their emotional needs. I recently saw the following on Linkedin:
Business is about people.
I’m sure you’re familiar with the saying “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” and I find this to be absolutely true when it comes to climbing the corporate ladder. Someone may be brilliant when it comes to numbers, or design but if they’re not able to effectively communicate their ideas to others, their talent and full potential can go unappreciated in the workplace.
So how does astrology play into this? We all have personality traits, wants and needs based on our sun (zodiac) sign. Once you have this little bit of information you can start to communicate with a person based on the tendencies of that zodiac sign. Now I have a big disclaimer: Astrology is not just your zodiac sign. It’s actually a very complicated social science that the average person may not know how to use day-to-day. But knowing a person’s sun sign can help gain very general and top-line information about them. And this is invaluable in the workplace.
Keep Track of your Coworkers’ Birthdays
So I’m not recommending that you start to be creepy at work and go around asking everyone their birthdays. Some people might be offended and wonder why you are all of a sudden over stepping your professional boundaries. But in my experience there are birthday celebrations that happen at work and some employers keep calendars for their employee’s birthdays. Start by setting calendar reminders whenever one of your team members/colleague’s birthday rolls around. If someone mentions they are taking a vacation because it’s their birthday, take note. Before long you will have a running list of your colleague’s birthdays.
Read about your coworker’s zodiac sign
Many people only want to read about themselves when it comes to astrology and don’t bother learning about the other 11 signs in the zodiac. Of course knowing yourself is extremely important when it comes to personal growth but part of personal growth is personal relationships. So start reading about the other zodiac signs, specifically your boss’ or team member’s signs. Check out my Your Zodiac page. You’ll start to recognize that your colleagues possess some of the general traits of the signs you are reading about which can help you be more sympathetic towards them. For example, if you have a team-mate that you work closely with and they have great ideas but sometimes lack follow through, maybe they are a Gemini or Pisces. If your boss is very stoic with you and you can’t seem to “breakthrough” their personality to get to know them better, perhaps they are a Capricorn or Cancer. Once you are able to understand them a little better you can begin to stop taking things personally and recognize that their communication style may be different from yours and that is ok.
Take note of your coworker’s zodiac sign's element
Every zodiac sign has an element associated with it and there are 4 elements in the western zodiac - Fire, Earth, Air and Water. Fire signs (Aries, Leo, Sagittarius) are generally outspoken, passionate, and can be quick to react. Earth Signs (Taurus, Virgo, Capricorn) are generally practical, stable and can be stuck in their ways. Air Signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius) are usually social, have great ideas but can have their heads “stuck in the clouds.” And water signs (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) can be intuitive, empathetic but overly emotional. Now again, these are generalizations and each individual of these signs will have varying degrees of these traits but knowing this information can help you with learning how to connect with your coworkers and people in general. An easy tip for how you can see if you may be compatible with someone (romantically and/or platonically) is to see if your elements are compatible. For example, my sun sign is Taurus, an earth sign. It may be easy for me to get along with and/or connect with another fellow earth sign (Virgo, Capricorn) or water sign (Cancer, Scorpio, Pisces) since earth and water complement each other. Things that are planted in the earth need water to grow and flourish. Same goes for a fire sign. If you’re an Aries, you may get along with other fire signs (Leo, Sagittarius) or air signs (Gemini, Libra, Aquarius). Fire needs air to burn. Try to remember these nuggets of information next time you have a team to put together or a project to work on with others. Pairing your colleagues up by element may help the project to run smoother.
Start to speak your coworkers zodiac “language"
Once you know your coworkers' zodiac sign(s) and element(s) you can start to make adjustments in the way you communicate with them to help improve your relationship. No relationship can improve without effort from both parties but if you make the effort to be more considerate of your coworkers' wants and needs, chances are they will start to meet you halfway. So say you have to brief a colleague on a new project or initiative during a one on one meeting and you know that he/she is a Sagittarius. That means they are a fire sign, may be a little impatient and quick to speak before thinking. Sagittarians love freedom, have a great imagination and are generally optimistic. Chances are they will not want to sit through a monotonous presentation where you go over information like a boring college professor. Find a way to bring what you want to relay to them to life in a creative way. You’ll keep their attention and get their support before they have the time to make an excuse for why they need to wrap the meeting up before your allotted time is over. But say you have the same exact information to present to a Virgo. Your approach should be completely different. Virgos are detail oriented and will want to know the facts so make sure you have crossed, all your i’s, dotted your t’s and don’t have any typos! They will definitely catch them and be a little more critical of your work.
I hope these tips help you better navigate the work place and life in general! We as people are all so different but there are commonalities you can find amongst people from all races, genders and ages, you just have to TRY!
xo Tamerri, Astrofashionista